Covid Hair Loss among Females
Our resident dermatologist explains why scalpcare is crucial during times of stress…
Dr Sue Ann Chan: “As we all face our invisible enemy, the coronavirus and stand together to fight away this pandemic, stress is no doubt creeping into our daily lives. You could be a nurse working at the front line in hospitals; a teenager at school missing those all-important A-Level exams; a chef in a Michelin-starred restaurant an elderly person trying to buy groceries; or a gym junkie missing weeks of working out! It affects all aspects of our daily lives.
But stress whether acute or chronic doesn’t just affect our mental health; our skin is perhaps one of the main organs acutely affected by it. Where the scalp is concerned, stress can cause our underlying skin conditions to become worse or even trigger a severe flare up. These include inflammatory skin conditions such as atopic eczema, seborrhoeaic dermatitis, psoriasis, scalp lupus and also alopecia (including androgenetic alopecia, alopecia areata, frontal fibrosing alopecia to name a few).
The stress hormone called cortisol regulates the normal functioning of our hair follicles. When cortisol is present at high concentrations, it causes cells in the hair follicles to undergo apoptosis (i.e. die) prematurely by up to 40%, resulting in hair loss.
For patients who are worried about hair loss, it is always advisable to obtain a firm diagnosis prior to exploring treatment options. In the meantime, MONPURE are one of the few brands to truly prioritise scalpcare, seeing the direct link to hair health and all of their products have been painstakingly developed with this in mind.
Besides that, daily nutrition is also essential including ensuring we eat foods with sufficient iron, biotin, selenium, zinc, and folic acid.
To ensure emotional and physical wellbeing during this stressful time, I urge you all to keep in touch with friends and family remotely, eat well, sleep well, stay home and support those in need however possibly can.
